John M. Tomaszewski – 10/5/04

This page was last updated on October 5, 2004.

The rich are getting richer; John M. Tomaszewski; Beaver County Times; October 5, 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The Associated Press reported that Cleveland has a poverty rate of 31.3 percent. The nation’s unemployment rate is 5.6 percent and more than 40 million Americans are without any health insurance.

[RWC] In 1996, during President Clinton’s re-election campaign, the press called the 5.6% unemployment rate “already low.” Today’s unemployment rate is 5.4%, below the average of each of the last three decades.

“These people are in the minority. The majority of Americans control Congress and the presidency. This majority has voted the fourth income tax cut in the last four years. These tax cuts don’t help the minority because these poor people don’t make enough money to pay any income tax.”

[RWC] Though partisans like Mr. Tomaszewski like to claim the Bush tax cuts were only for the wealthy, nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone received tax cuts. In some cases, even those low-income persons without a tax liability received a “refund.” Further, the tax cuts eliminated the income tax liability for 7.8 million families.¹

The Census Bureau acknowledges its figure overstates the uninsured because the survey is not primarily designed to gather this data. If you went without insurance for even a few days between jobs, you are counted as uninsured for the entire year. This alone greatly inflates the uninsured figure. The number of persons covered by Medicaid is underreported. For some reason, the number of persons who report they are covered by Medicaid is lower than that shown in Medicaid records. Another reason is some persons eligible for Medicaid don’t sign up.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the chronically uninsured is roughly 9.1 million persons. Of that 9.1 million, approximately one million simply choose not to purchase health insurance because they don’t feel they need it.

How many chronically uninsured people want but can’t afford insurance? The CBO doesn’t have this figure. A lot of those persons surveyed complain about the expense, but there are no figures to say how many of the 8.1 million really can’t afford insurance vs. how many simply choose to spend their money on other things.

In any case, the number of chronically uninsured people who want but truly can’t afford insurance is less than 18% of the uninsured figure liberals like to throw around. That’s less than 3% of the population. Not having health insurance is not the same as not having health care. As with education, however, providing healthcare or healthcare insurance is definitely not a federal responsibility and should not be a responsibility of any level of government.

Regarding poverty, read The Data on Poverty and Health Insurance You’re Not Reading by Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D., of The Heritage Foundation to cut though the hype.

“In our nation the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer thanks to the present Republican administration.”

[RWC] Mr. Tomaszewski, please identify the Republican sponsored programs that support your conclusion.

1. Bush Tax Cuts Erased Income Tax Burden for 7.8 Million Families; Scott A. Hodge and J. Scott Moody; Tax Foundation; August 17, 2004.